Red ribbons
by P3MF Alpha 3-Richter
Summary: Viper is practicing her dance for a festival, but when Po comes along, things start to get a little awkward... Po/Viper
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Made a little Po/Viper thing while I didn't have any ideas for my main story. D: I don't know if I rushed it, but it's just a little thing.

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><p>Red Ribbons<p>

Ribbons were her favorite. Red ones in fact.

Viper was in the courtyard of the temple, expertly dancing with her cherished ribbons. Her ribbons flowed in the early morning wind, her body slithering and moving with the grace of a master, she was happier than ever.

With the defeat of Tai Lung, the valley had gone back to its quiet lifestyle. The furious five and the new dragon warrior had continued their training, nothing of interest happening except an occasional embarrassing slip-up from Po or a village festival.

Ah yes, she loved festivals.

It was her time to shine; she'd be lying to say she didn't enjoy the smiling faces of kids watching her perform her dance. It was one of the few times she left the temple to take a break from training, assuring Shifu it was for the children's enjoyment.

She had been doing it ever since she was little.

Sometimes she could even see Po rushing down to help his dad during the festivals, giving her a friendly wave as he left, and he accompanied her on the way back to the temple, the two of them talking how the festival went for them.

He was a nice guy, still a bit clumsy, but whenever he told his (obviously fake) stories, she couldn't help feeling Po could be such a…

"H-hey now, I'm starting to slack off. Better just stick to practice…" Viper stuttered, her mind veering off into thoughts a bit too embarrassing for her.

She picked up her ribbons again, practicing a new dance she had made a few days ago; she smiled, thinking of seeing the cute little bunnies and pigs happy faces during her performance.

Maybe if she was lucky, Po might catch a bit of her act, and ask her to dance at his-

Viper stopped and shook her head. "Ugh, what's with me today? Maybe I didn't get enough sleep… Yeah, that's probably it." Viper picked up her ribbons with her tail and headed back inside the temple, pushing out those…weird thoughts.

Why were they so persistent? Sure Po was a nice guy, kind of funny, even a good cook, but they were just friends…

"Hey Viper! What are you, uh, doing there?" She blinked as she saw Po walk up to her, a bit in disbelief in how she had the panda walk right up to her without even noticing him, considering he was so-

"Warm. I said warm."

Po raised an eyebrow. "Right… Miss master has gone off to the cuckoo-land zone."

Viper rolled her eyes. "Actually, I was practicing my dance for the next festival." He nodded, and stared at her ribbon.

"Hey Viper?"

"Yeah Po?"

"You mind if I watch you practice?"

She could feel the scales on her face warm up a little, and tried to frown. "Why?"

"Huh? Well you just look AWESOME when you're slithering around, twirling that ribbon. It's really pretty."

Her face's scales felt hot now, and now her tail was swishing side to side. "W-well…Ok."

He sat down in front of her. "Awesome. So what dance am I gonna see? Oh I hope its-" Viper's face now felt hot as Po listed all her dances, even some she vaguely remembered ever doing.

It was weirdly touching to her.

She didn't even know why she thought it was nice he remembered all her dances –normally, she'd find it creepy that someone knew ALL her dances (considering she really only "danced" during festivals) but… it was different with Po.

"Hey Viper?"

She was taken out of her thoughts with his voice and was surprised to see him holding a part of her precious red ribbon.

"Do you think I could try dancing with this? I mean, cause you have that crazy awesome kung-fu style that looks a lot like when you dance."

"Actually, my style is from dancing, Po. I told you the story about me and my dad right?"

Po nodded. "Yeah. It was so awesome how you beat that guy with a _ribbon_. I was I was cool enough to do that like you. Well, maybe not a ribbon, a sash or something."

Viper's face felt hot again, and so she slithered back out into the courtyard, using her tail to direct him to follow her.

"Ok Po." She used her tail to borrow her ribbon to Po. "Just try to follow what I'm doing ok?" Viper then moved around, slithering into a dance while Po tried to keep up with her.

Key word, trying.

He was more or less spinning in a circle, waving the ribbon with crazed ambition. It was a funny sight to see for Viper. Po really knew how to lighten the mood at the temple.

The panda gradually became frustrated, eventually swinging the ribbon around while running in a circle around Viper. She let out a little laugh.

"Oh come on Viper!"

"Alright, all right Po. First you just have to…" Viper began to explain to Po about the dance, but as he was swinging around, he slipped, crashing into the female master and releasing her precious red ribbon.

In the heat of the moment, Viper wrapped herself around him, until realizing how dumb it looked as Po just thumped to the ground with her head right in his face and her body coiled around his to the point where she couldn't move.

Po blushed, "S-sorry Viper, I kept going and slipped… whoops…" He tried to get up, but Viper's body was wrapped around his arms and plopped back on the ground again.

It was a fun dance practice turned into a magic trick; only Viper couldn't untie herself from Po.

Po's smile slowly vanished into an embarrassed look. "Well… This is awkward."

"Yeah… " Viper murmured, hoping that Tigress would- well, maybe it'd be better if Shifu found them instead. She'd never hear the end of it from her if Tigress found them like that… She may have been hard, but Viper knew this would be too funny for her to pass up.

"W-wait, I think I've got it." Po closed his eyes and bounced his belly against the temple floor, slowly gaining a rhythm of bounces that pushed him off the ground, but each fall caused his face to push against Viper's, as the snake quietly hissed her embarrassment.

"All right!" With one last bounce, Po bounced himself back to a standing position as Viper uncurled herself and slid down, picking up her discarded ribbon.

Viper stared at her ribbon for a bit as Po dusted himself off. "You know…that was kinda annoying, but I had fun practicing, what about you Po?"

Po coughed. "Well, except for the falling, it was nice, and your ribbon is _really_ smooth Viper."

Viper gave him a wide smile, even though her scales were becoming hot again…Why that was even happening was something she didn't know…Maybe the sun liked embarrassing her.

"I had fun too, even if it was cut short… You mind giving me back my ribbon now, Po?"

"Oh, uh, sorry Viper. I guess I messed up your practice." He put down the ribbon and scratched the back of his neck.

She shook her head. "It's ok… You can still watch if you want."

Po's smile came back, as he fisted the air in excitement. "Awesome! You like that ribbon?"

Viper giggled. "Red's one of my favorite colors."

Po sat down as Viper began practicing again, and tilted his head. "What are the others?" He asked as she danced in splendor, a visual sight Po loved seeing, Viper was so awesome when she danced, no wonder why she was a master.

Viper closed her eyes and simply smiled.

Opposite colors was her other favorite. Black and white in fact.

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><p><strong>AN:** I made this as a one-shot, but hey, if people like it enough I'll do more, supply and demand you know. X| Like it, hate it, love it? Please leave a review. Thanks~! :D


	2. Moonlight, Peaches, and Cake

**A/N:** By the way, the folk tale in this story is loosely based on a tale from Chinese mythology. Just…a different take on the folk tale.

I think I've gotten back into writing…

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><p>Moonlight, Peaches, and Cake<p>

A cake, made from the servant to the goddess of the moon.

Viper had been told that tale every time the trees bloomed with flowers in the spring from her mother as a young snake.

The story was that a bunny on the moon was using a hammer to whack parts of the moon into little mochi* cakes for the moon queen, called moon cakes in her honor, when the bunny accidentally dropped the moon cakes onto the earth, and the queen punished the bunny by limiting her grand jumping on the moon to mere hops. The bunny then searched the earth for the moon cakes, but to no avail. So she substituted a peach for the flavor of the moon, and presented the new cake as a gift, to which the lunar queen greatly enjoyed, proclaiming that moon cakes were to be a symbol of diligence and romance due to the addition of the peach.

So here she was lying up against Master Oogway's peach tree under the moonlight. She often wondered if his spirit still resided in that tree overlooking the village. She remembered that he also told her that story about moon cakes, along with tons of other stories as weird as Po's stories. Well… Maybe not _as_ weird as Po's stories…

Speaking of Po…

"Gasp… Gasp… Why… Couldn't Oogway… Have planted his tree… On a _mole_ hill?"

Viper stared at the panting panda with a basket full of moon cakes on his back, trying to hold back a laugh. "I know Shifu said to bring these moon cakes up here, but why do I have to be the one to carry them all?"

Viper shook her head and waved her tail to him. "Not all of us can carry things…"

Po groaned, dropping the basket of moon cakes against the peach tree and sat down next to Viper. "Sorry… But why did Shifu want us to carry these up here? –Especially at night, under a full moon, could be sleeping right now…"

Viper raised an eye. "Don't you remember? Oogway used to put a moon cake under this peach tree every harvest moon as a gift to the moon goddess."

Po gave her a befuddled stare. "Moon what?"

Viper's jaw dropped. "You've never heard the story about moon cakes?"

Po frowned. "No… Not really Viper." He looked up for a second before an idea sprung into his head.

"Why don't you?"

Viper tilted her head. "Why don't I…what?"

Po smiled warmly at her. "Why don't _you_ tell _me_ a story for a change?"

Viper blinked and tried to recall the mythical tale. "Okay. Just…let me try to remember it all. It'll only take a moment." Viper closed her eyes, recalling the details of the age-old story.

Po meanwhile had opened up the basket of moon cakes, sniffing their still warm and delicious aroma, his mouth salivating from the flavor…

Viper opened her eyes back up, not wanting to risk him eating all the cakes and having to make a return (to an angry Shifu no less) trip here. "Sorry Po, but you have to put at least one cake under the tree as an offering to the goddess. Do it for Oogway's memory, okay?"

Po took out a single moon cake and placed it on the other side of Viper adjacent to the tree where he would not try to accidentally eat it.

Viper gave a quick happy nod to the panda as she called to mind the entirety of the story.

"So… Did you remember?"

Viper smiled. "Yes I did. You can eat the other moon cakes, the rest are for you anyway." She grinned as she saw the panda beam with delight, and immediately tasted the moon cakes one by one.

Po munched on the food, talking with his mouth full. "Thanks… Viper! These… are… delicious…"

Viper shook her head, laughing at his silliness. He was such a fun guy to be around with…

Maybe she could hang out with him more, she thought. Although… She got flustered when she remembered the last time they hung out, with the ribbon accident and all…

"Okay Po, listen up." The panda lied next to her, still gobbling down the cakes, but at a moderate pace now to listen to her enchanting story. Viper told him the entire story, the panda occasionally stopping his binge to listen to the gripping parts of the story.

As Viper told the tale, she couldn't help but feel her scales warm up as Po paid so much attention to what she said. Not that she was ignored by her friends, but despite being a master, she felt that her opinion seemed to be ignored by those who didn't behold her as a master and more a friend. Even the other furious five members would occasionally ignore her, and Shifu was too busy meditating for talk. Although…Po would listen to her whenever she talked (Then again he was usually stuffing his face at the time, but he could listen and eat easily) to him, bringing some odd warm feeling inside her.

She wrapped up the story, "…and even now, peach-filled moon cakes are still considered a symbol of romance and diligence." She turned to look at the full moon with the beautiful pink leaves of the tree partially blocking the sight of the moon in a breath taking way that made Viper sigh in the splendor she was seeing.

Po finished up what was left in the basket, reaching his hand around in disappointment as he realized there were no more delicious treats. He frowned, until he turned his head to notice a single moon cake left in his hand.

A single scrumptious, _delectable_, **succulent**, _**luscious**_-

Po blinked as he saw Viper staring at the moon under the peach tree, the moonlight shining on all of her scales in an enrapturing and stunning way that made him blush a little under his fur…

He tried to ignore the warm feeling rushing to his face and blurted out a random question. "So uh, how old was Master Oogway?" Viper was taken out of her bliss and sharply turned to face Po with a gentle smile.

Viper put her tail tip to her "chin", and thought about it. "I'll put it in terms you can understand Po. He was way, _way_ old."

Po nodded, and stared at the moon cake in his paw, and considered that he could…

"Hey… Viper?" She hummed in response. "Would… Ah, would you like the last moon cake?"

Viper's face flushed in embarrassment, but returned to normal grasping the fact Po didn't realize giving a moon cake was a sign of love… (Despite the fact that Po would never just give away food made it all the more hard to convince herself) She cleared her throat. "I'd love to have it Po… Thank you Po."

Viper slithered over to him, and tenderly grabbed the moon cake out of his paw and ate the confection, her mouth savoring its delectable peach flavor. She had tasted a moon cake before, so why this one tasted so heavenly to her boggled her mind…

Viper shivered slightly as a cold breeze came by, her coils forming a circle to keep heat inside her. Po leaned his head, confused by her odd shaking, until remembering snakes like Viper didn't do so hot in the cold. He went over and wrapped his arms around Viper to share his internal warmth with her. Viper instinctively snuggled to him for his internal warmth, but on the outside, her face scales were burning furiously with feeling the awkwardness of the scene.

Po and Viper avoided each other's stare with such an easily mistakable… Well, a _hug_ would've only been said if a _child_ was seeing them in any case.

Viper slowly nuzzled Po's warm fur and her blushing making her scaled body warm back up in the cool night. She took a gamble and looked up at Po's face, whose eyes had been avoiding her gaze, but relented now that her serpentine eyes were staring directly at him.

Viper remembered when she was -somewhat- in his embrace like this back when she had been practicing with her ribbons, and was feeling the same way she had before…

The two looked at each other for a while into each other's eyes before Viper softly rubbed his fur. "I… Thanks…" Po blushed in confusion, but nodded his head.

"No problem Viper…" Po smiled nervously back. "I told you these moon cakes are special." Viper chuckled, but she was thinking the moon cakes were special in a different way than just flavor… Something that the single moon cake Po had left by the tree's side reminded her of the story of rabbit, peaches, and a lunar queen…

A love, made from a pastry to the master and a warrior.

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><p><strong>AN:** mochi= rice paste. …If peach trees can't break into pink leaves, I don't care. Fantasy setting so deal with it.

The idea of this is accredited to Heartless demon wolf , so thank you very much HDW! Thanks for your help~! =D

Anyway, if you want to talk to me on how to improve your writing, I happen to be part of a group of writers who work on such a thing, found here: ht tp : / . net /forum/The_Brotherhood_of_the_Pen_Headquarters/92754/

You need to apply for the group first though, so that we know if you aren't an idiot/asshole/horrible excuse for a troll/etc… That can be found here: ht tp : / . net /topic/92754/46865129/1/


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